High availability computer clusters or other computer cluster configurations may use data storage shared among one or more nodes. Such configurations may imply that backups are taken from an active node which may maintain control over shared storage. Such configurations may also provide redundancy among nodes, but the shared storage may create a single point of failure. To avoid this single point of failure, some computer cluster configurations may utilize unshared storage which may be replicated between nodes. Other systems may utilize replicated data for redundancy, availability and for other purposes. Such data replication may eliminate shared storage as a single point of failure but may introduce a level of complexity. Backups may be run on an active and/or a primary node, as they are in shared storage configurations. However, it may be desirable to run a backup on a passive and/or a secondary node, which may be possible due to unshared replicated storage.
Coordination of a backup between multiple nodes utilizing replicated data may present significant challenges. Storage on a node may not be replicated data, it may be local data utilized by the node. An application administrator, a network administrator or another user may determine whether storage, such as a particular volume used for application data, should be replicated. Specifying that storage should be replicated may result in the storage being replicated from the primary and/or active node to one or more secondary and/or passive nodes. Performing a full backup of storage on a device or a file system may result in backing up storage which is not replicated, together with replicated storage. Performing a backup on a secondary and/or passive node may result in incomplete or inconsistent backups if a node or a component of a replication process is not replicating data properly. Performing a backup on a secondary and/or passive node may fail if the secondary and/or passive node is not available to perform a backup. Performing a backup on a primary and/or active node and a secondary and/or passive node may create multiple backups and a user may be required to choose between the backups. Performing multiple backups also may fail to alleviate any burden off of a primary and/or active node and may require additional space and resources.
In view of the foregoing, it may be understood that there are significant problems and shortcomings associated with current technologies utilized for backing up replicated data.